


Crux

by 500purplecats (Blaithin)



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M, Gen, it's really OT4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 19:38:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4847825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaithin/pseuds/500purplecats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Super Powered AU:  Riley’s power feels more like a curse than gift, she can’t wait until she’s eighteen and can give it up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crux

**Crux**

When Maya drew, her thoughts went liquid gold and tranquil; all the fast, angry edges of her mind smoothed out and slowed down. She didn’t draw much anymore though, so Riley let herself luxuriate in the feel of her friend’s mind, keeping her eyes closed in an effort to feign sleep.

“I know you’re awake.” Maya said over the sound of charcoal on paper.

“How could you possibly know?”

Maya shrugged. She had jack-knifed herself into the only chair in the nurse’s room, half hidden beneath the A4 pad of paper stretched across her knees.   “Your mind is like a computer. When you’re awake I can feel it buzzing in the background.”

“That’s freaky.”

“A bit,” Maya said distractedly. Her eyes had yet to leave her sketch, but Riley didn’t feel bad about it, she knew what happened when Maya’s attention wandered.

“How long was I out this time?”

“Only ten minutes. The nurse left you some painkillers and water by the bed.”

Riley levered herself upright. Ten minutes was pretty good; when she was younger she used to pass out for hours at a time, it had scared her parents half to death. She swallowed the pills, practise making it easy.

Maya tilted her pad; the charcoal bunny twitched its whiskers at Riley nervously. “You want it?”

Riley grinned, “Of course.”

Riley had seen Maya’s drawings move hundreds of times; she remembered Maya’s coloured stick men in kindergarten marching up and down their table, she had watched flowers blossom from pastel drawings and ran away as an oil paint river had flooded their middle school’s art room. She had seen Maya’s power hundreds of times, but it never stopped taking her breath away.

The charcoal rabbit leapt from the page in a cloud of dust. Maya scooped it up and dropped it into Riley’s lap, smiling at the little dirty footprints that it left across the white sheets.

“The nurse is going to be so mad at you.” Riley said, rubbing her face on the rabbit head. It felt real, the fur was soft against her skin; the rabbit’s heart a steady flutter through its fragile ribcage.

Maya shrugged, “She’ll be even madder when she realises I used her paper.”

Now that she wasn’t drawing, Maya’s mind was moving faster, waves churned by a storm. Riley stretched her own thoughts outwards, finding the spaces she had been carving for herself since they were kids. Not many people were comfortable sharing mind space, it was deemed intrusive, uncomfortable. Maya had never cared. It was something Riley loved about her.

“You ready to go home?” Maya asked after a while.

Riley mumbled an affirmation into the soft back of the bunny. Seconds later it popped out of existence, charcoal powder floating up around Riley like a mushroom cloud. She sighed and watched Maya finish ripping apart her drawing. The familiar buzz of resentment at having to destroy her work itched at Maya but mostly what Riley felt was a dim, aching mourning.

Outside the nurse’ room the thoughts of an entire school threatened to overwhelm Riley again; she burrowed further into Maya’s mind, taking shelter in the other girl sharp edged thoughts

People imagined powers as privileges, as fun. But they weren’t, they sucked.

00

Riley was the last in a long line of superheroes: Her grandmother had been flying around the world since the sixties, Aunt Nebula well and truly lived up to her name and her mother had spent six years on the Remarkables – the most famous superhero squad in the world.

For all her similarities to her father, Riley had always hoped she would take after her mother in this. Her entire childhood had been spent impatiently waiting for her own powers to manifest. Riley had dreamt of flying like her grandmother – powers tended to run in families – but being a powerful telekinetic had sounded pretty cool as well.

It made her laugh how naïve she had been.

On Riley’s twelfth birthday, her powers had manifested. It started off as a headache, a throbbing pain behind her eyes that swelled until Riley was ready to claw out her own brains. Then the voices had started. Being telepathic was like a hundred people whispering in your ear all day, every day. Riley couldn’t concentrate at school, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think without getting lost in other people’s minds. And it wasn’t just thoughts, it was feelings too.  She found herself crying when she wasn’t sad, shouting when she wasn’t angry. Riley had thought she was going insane, unable to separate herself from everyone around her.

Her parents tried to help of course. They hired superheroes to train her, telepaths to create shields around her mind, for a six months she had been home schooled to give her some space from the other kids. But it only worked to soften the pain of Riley’s ability, it didn’t take it away. Sometimes the press of people’s minds was too much, too overwhelming. Like a computer running too many programs, sometimes Riley’s mind crashed and shut down. In middle school Riley used to pass out for hours, just collapse in the middle of school with no warning.  The nurse’s room became as familiar to her as her own bedroom.

Worse than all that, though, was the way the other kids treated her. They were wary of her, distasteful of her ability in ways they weren’t of Billy’s super strength or Olive’s red eyes. It didn’t matter how many time Riley explained she wasn’t doing it on purpose, a lot of people just couldn’t get past the idea that she was violating them somehow.  Riley was lucky she had Maya and Farkle; both of them had accepted her unconditionally, but not everyone had and Riley had never really got over that rejection.

Topanga and Cory had always wanted her to accept herself as she was, to love herself, but Riley didn’t love her power. In fact, she hated it most of the time. After five years of fainting, of headaches, of people avoiding her and hearing every horrible and cruel thought, Riley didn’t want to be a superhero anymore, she didn’t want her power anymore.

Riley hadn’t managed to gather the courage to tell her parents yet, but in three months – when she turned eighteen – she was going to take Stuart Minkus’s _Nullifier_. She was going to give up her telepathy.

00

“Hey, I hear you fainted yesterday. Are you ok?”

Riley nodded, yanking her backpack higher; it was weighed down by the thick winter coat she had stuffed in it and the strap was biting into her shoulder. Lucas smiled and stuck out his hand. He had been in New York for years, but he had never stopped being a gentleman. Riley gratefully handed the bag over. 

“What do you have in here? A dead body?”

“Just a little one,” Riley said, holding out to hands to demonstrate exactly how small. “Have you seen Maya, she didn’t come by my apartment this morning?”

Maya flashed in Lucas’s mind; she was illuminated and golden, a curl of hair falling across a smile too soft, too open to be real.

It used to upset Riley the way Maya appeared in Lucas’ mind. The strange little three person dance they had done in middle school had hurt a lot more when Riley knew what they felt before they did. The hurt was mostly just a memory now; Riley loved Lucas and Maya, if they ever stopped teasing each other and actually got together, she would be happy for them.

“She broke into the art room again.”

Riley winced. Maya was only allowed in the art room under strict supervision; what she could draw was carefully dictated and every session ended with the teacher shredding her paintings. Maya’s power was deemed too dangerous for anything else.

Guilt flashed through Lucas and he looked down at Riley, knowing she felt it.

“You helped her break in?”

“Only a little…”

“Your secret is safe with me.” Riley tapped her nose. “They will never break me, not even if they threaten to call my parents.”

Lucas grinned, “I never doubted you for a second.”

There had been no history of powers in Lucas’ family and for six months after his had manifested, his parents had tried to pretend that was still the case. It had worked pretty well until Lucas put a bully in a coma. When the boy’s parents found out Lucas was powered, they had tried to press charges. Despite widespread acceptance, crimes on normals by those with powers tended to attract a lot of anger and press. They hadn’t won but part of the settlement had been that Lucas had to attend a school which could support his developing powers, so to the home of the most active superhero city in the world he had come.

Lucas’s power was an unusual one: he was a copier. Anything physical he could copy, perfectly. Farkle had made him watch hours of Michael Flatley videos just to see a live performance of Riverdance. One hour of watching the gymnastic teams and Lucas could do cartwheels and handsprings like he’s been practising for years. It was a cool power. Riley tried very hard not to be jealous.

“I’m going to rescue Maya before Principal Yancey catches her,” Lucas said as they came to Riley’s locker, “I’ll see you in class.”

Riley waved him away fondly. She would be happy when Lucas and Maya got together, honest.

00

Neither Maya nor Lucas showed up by the time the bell rang. It didn’t take a genius to realise they’d been caught.

Riley waited ten minutes for them to appear – trying to ignore her teacher’s daydreams about the Remarkables muscular Polaris – before sticking up her hand and asking to go to the nurse’s office. All the teachers in school knew about her condition and she had permission to leave if she felt overwhelmed. Farkle, of course, volunteered to take her and seconds later they were creeping left towards the principal’s office, instead of right towards the nurse’s room.

“What did they do?” Farkle asked softly.

“Broke into the art room,” Riley said and Farkle shrugged, not seeming surprised.

Riley’s had a ten-foot range which meant they were able to sit comfortably in the hallway as she relayed what was going on inside the Principal’s office.

Principal Yancey was furious, his mind pepper red and pulsating, it was hard to grasp the train of his thoughts through his anger. People didn’t tend to think in sentences unless they were speaking, reading or thinking about thinking. More often it was a mixture of emotions, pictures and random, clusters of words. Maybe the chaos of people’s mind was what made telepathy so hard to live with. Every mind was different, to read them successful you had to get used to them, get familiar with how they worked.

Giving up on understanding Yancey, Riley reached out and nudged Maya. Maya’s mind unfurled around her, welcoming. For a second Riley’s stomach rolled nauseously before she found herself coiled up behind Maya’s eyes, watching Yancey pace in front of his desk.

This trick had been Farkle’s idea; despite being powerless he was the one who always seemed to know best what they could accomplish. Maya was crazy enough to want to be part of Riley’s experiment and since Maya’s mind was the one Riley knew best, it was her Riley had spent three weeks trying to use as a periscope.

 “You are less than a year from graduation and this is how you behave. You broke school rules, you endangered your fellow students,” Yancey ranted.

Anger flashed through Maya, threatening to throw Riley out of her mind.

“And you Mr Friar. I am surprised that you would be a part of this.”

Lucas squirmed awkwardly.

“The Remarkables may think twice about letting you join after this.”

Shock rocketed through Riley, she wasn’t sure if it was hers or Maya – it was probably both. She felt herself thrown from Maya’s head, hurtling back into herself with a force that would have knocked her over if Farkle hadn’t been there to catch her.

“Riley!” He called, the bend of his arm curling protectively around her head, “Are you ok? What happened?”

Riley blinked the stars out of her eyes; Farkle wavered in and out of her vision sickeningly. “Lucas is joining the Remarkables.” She rasped.

There was no sense of surprise from Farkle, no shock. He had already known.

00

Maya and Lucas’s following argument was a volcano erupting at the corner of Riley’s thoughts. She rubbed at her forehead irritably, wishing they would take it somewhere else.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset.” Lucas yelled again.

“Well, that’s because you’re an idiot.” Maya snarled and stood up so sharply her chair went flying across the canteen. The teacher on duty looked over at Maya but made no move to tell her off, apparently even the facility were nervous of Maya’s temper.

“Maya…” Lucas tried to reach for her, but she slapped his hands away and stalked out of the canteen. Lucas slumped down into his chair, dragging his hands down his face in a mixture of frustration and defeat.

For a few minutes, Riley allowed her mind to trail after Maya, floating after the whirlwind of hurt and anger spiralling in her best friend’s head, before turning back to Lucas.

“Are you mad are me too?” he asked glumly.

 _Yes._ “No.” Riley said finally. Privacy and confidence were lessons Riley had learnt over and over. “You didn’t have to tell us.”

“I was going to tell you.” Lucas said urgently.

“Were you?”

Lucas let himself think about it for a moment, not trying to conceal his mind from Riley. It was one of Lucas’s virtues: he desire to always be honest. He had been going to tell them, Riley could see the plan in his mind. But she could also see how he had put it off, how he had let opportunities to tell them pass him by. She saw how he told Farkle instead because he was scared of telling Riley and Maya. Riley pulled away from Lucas then, letting her mind fold up into itself.

“I’m sorry Riley.” Lucas said.

“I know,” and she did. Lucas would never hurt anyone on purpose. “I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell us. We’re your friends.”

“I know. It’s just…” Lucas ran his hands through his hair, a gesture he made when he was going to tell her something he thought might upset her.  “I love my power. It’s great and I know you and Maya don’t have an easy time with yours.  I didn’t want to rub your faces in it.”

Riley patted his shoulder gently. It was impossible to stay mad at Lucas, especially for this.

“You’re going to make a really good superhero one day, Lucas.”

00

Farkle Minkus was the heir to possibly the most controversial invention of their time: the Minkus _Nullifier_.

Stuart Minkus had invented it when he was twenty-three. Originally it had been for his college girlfriend whose pheromones had been causing her relationship problems, but once word got out a whole lot of people wanted his Nullifier. The Nullifier was a one-time, Five-hundred-dollar drink which consuming would erase any power as if it had never existed.  For a lot of people whose powers were dangerous or unwanted, it was a God-send, a way to live a normal life. The controversy started after people were administered it without their consent and things only got worse when governments started using it on criminals.

Aunt Nebula had marched in protests against it back when it had first appeared on the market. Riley parents weren’t as extreme in their views, but Topanga had been one of the lawyers who fought against usage of Minkus’s Nullifier in prisons. While most powered people theoretically understood that some people were better off for the Nullifier, emotionally the Nullifier felt like an insult to those who loved their powers, a threat to their own way of life.

Riley knew this because she could feel it in her parents, she heard Lucas think it. It was why she hadn’t told them she was planning on using the Nullifier.

Lucas might be in a different situation than she was, but she understood him. Riley understood his fear of disappointing the ones she loved because she felt it too.

00

Maya was waiting for Riley in the bay window. She had obviously been waiting a while because she was asleep, her arm pillowing her head, blonde hair spilling out across Riley’s purple cushion.  Her body was curled into a comma, small and vulnerable looking.

“Hey Peaches,” Riley said, gently sliding Maya’s head into her lap.

Maya mumbled incomprehensibly, her thoughts heavy and cobwebbed with sleep.  Riley ran her fingers across Maya’s scalp thoughtless, waiting as she drifted back to consciousness.

“Hey, Riles.”

“You feeling any better now?”

Maya wrapped an arm around Riley’s knees, “A bit, I guess.”

Riley hummed and continued running her fingers through Maya’s hair. Sometimes Maya reminded her of a cat:half-wild but partial to petting and food.

 “I don’t know why he didn’t just tell us. We’re his friends, we would have been happy no matter he did.” Maya’s breath was hot against Riley’s bare legs. “Did he not trust me or something?”

Guilt assaulted Riley; she sighed and pushed Maya upright gently. “Maya, I’ve got to tell you something.”

Wariness snapped like a shield around Maya’s mind. Riley flinched back away from it, it wasn’t often Maya blocked her and it felt close to rejection.

 “What? You’re joining the Remarkables too?” Maya asked with forced, biting nonchalance.

“No. No.” Riley said quickly, “No one wants a telepath remember?”

“They should.” Said Maya, her mental shields wavering, “I’m mean you’re mad powerful, who wouldn’t want you? They’d be lucky to have you-”

“Maya, I don’t care that they haven’t asked me to join. I don’t want to join.” Riley bit at her lip her chest constricting, “I don’t want to join and I don’t want to be powered.”

Maya stared, wide-eyed at her.

“I’m going to take the Nullifier when I’m eighteen.”

They sat in silence. Or at least as silent as it got for Riley, the frantic twisting of Maya’s thoughts pressed against her. Riley coiled up her power as best she could, trying to give her friend some privacy. Her curiosity about other people’s thoughts had long been satisfied; the thoughts people had initially were never as interesting or as nice as she wanted.

“How long have you been thinking about it?”

Riley shrugged, “I’ve thought about it for a long time. Sometimes the thought of being normal one day was the only thing that got me through everything.”

Maya reached out and clutched Riley’s hand, “Damn Riley”

 “I was scared to say anything.” Riley felt tears choke at her throat. “I didn’t want you to be angry with me.”

“I could never be angry at you for this.” Maya said and Riley let herself collapse into Maya’s arm.

Riley had since long shot past Maya’s 5’2, but somehow Maya could fold herself around Riley in a way that made Riley feel tiny, safe in the circle of her arms. Riley clung onto her friend tighter, unable to stop the tears.

“I keep meaning to tell my parents, but I can’t make myself do it. They will be so disappointed in me.”

“They won’t,” Maya said. The lie of it flickered beneath her words.

“They’ll get over it.” Maya corrected.

Riley hoped so.

00

Maya might not have been mad at Riley, but her understanding didn’t extent to Lucas.

Riley knew why, but she suspected Maya didn’t and Riley had long ago learnt that people needed to figure things out for themselves. With Lucas and Maya avoiding each other, lunch was unusually quiet.

“Maya still mad?” Farkle asked, sliding his apple pie over to Riley thoughtlessly. It was her favourite.

“Yeah. Lucas still hiding from her?”

Farkle nodded and they shared a look of exasperation.

“Hey Farkle, can I ask you something?”

“Of course. You can ask me anything.” Farkle paused, “Unless you want me to play baseball. My many talents don’t seem to include hand/eye coordination.”

“No baseballs.” Riley reassured solemnly, “I was just wondering, well… do you ever wish you were powered?”

Memories of jealousy and feeling left out flashed between them for a moment.

“I used to. It was pretty bad when Lucas first came here, I felt like I couldn’t compete.” The memories unravelled gently and Farkle shrugged acceptingly, “But mostly no. Just because I can’t fly or shot fire from my eyes doesn’t mean I’m not special.” He looked at Riley with mock seriousness, “I am a genius, you know.”

“I know,” Riley laughed.

“I might be normal, but I can do things no one else can do. Just look at my dad.” Farkle said and then blinked with sudden, lightning understand. He swivelled around to look at Riley, “oh.”

“Don’t tell Lucas yet. I don’t know how he’d take it.” Riley said hurriedly.

“Of course,” Farkle said, and then, “Things have got complicated recently.”

“Things have been complicated for a long time.”

00

It was only after lunch that Riley realised she should have kept a closer eye on Maya.

The hallway near the girls’ bathroom was destroyed, holes the size of donuts stabbed through the metal lockers, the concrete underneath the linoleum was visible through a ragged spider web of cracks. The ceiling tiles sagged under the weight of a burst water pipe, groaning ominously.

Farkle and Riley exchanged horrified looks. “I’ll get Lucas,” he called and darted back towards the canteen.

Maya’s mind flared out panicked and horrified and Riley ran towards her blindly.

“What happened?” she cried, bursting into the girl’s bathroom.

Maya was curled over a sink, her hair damp and clinging to her neck. Coloured handprints curled wetly around the edges of the sink and colour seeped through Maya’s fingers, swirling in a sickly coloured soup down the drain.

“I didn’t know it would happen.” Maya said, her shoulders shaking.

Riley turned her around gently; there was a large cut across Maya’s forehead, it didn’t look too bad, but the blood had dripped down her face. Maya must have tried to wipe it away because blood was smeared down and around her eye and cheek like war paint.  

“What happened?” Riley repeated, unable to make sense of the jumbled images Maya was sending her.

Maya held out her arm. Drawn in green marker, a stylized, thorn-covered plant twisted up around Maya’s wrist and forearm. The plant was still squirming, pulsating under her skin with ebbing life; it was ugly, repulsive and Riley tried not to recoil from it.

“I didn’t mean to. I was bored and angry. I didn’t even realise I was drawing.” Maya turned back to sink and continued to scrub harshly at her arm. “I didn’t think it would count, I thought I had to draw on paper.”

Riley winced at the harsh treatment Maya was giving her arm, tugging her hand to stop her.

“It was really bad, Riley.” Maya said not looking up, “Before I even finished it, it just erupted from me. It took over the whole hallway. I didn’t know I could do that. I didn’t mean to.”

“I know. I know.”  

Images of the plant springing to life, growing and twisting so rapidly it knocked Maya across the room flashed in Riley’s mind. Maya had had to crawl across the floor as it ripped apart like a split orange. One of the needle sharp thorns had skimmed her face, punctuating a locker inches away from her eye.  Riley’s stomach roiled as she realised how close Maya had come to being badly hurt by her own creation.

“They’re going to expel me for this.”

“No. how could they. It was a mistake.”

Maya shrugged away Riley’s objection. “It’s always a mistake. Since kindergarten I’ve been making the same stupid mistakes. Every time I think I have my power under control, I do something like this.” Maya shivered, “I could have really hurt someone today.”

Riley didn’t know what to say. Maya wasn’t wrong; there was a reason why the art teacher monitored her so careful, her power was different, easily dangerous. Her creations once drawn were self-sustaining; the only way to stop them was to destroy the original art work. The older they got the more powerful Maya seemed to get, even Maya had no idea what she could make if she allowed herself to draw it.

Farkle had always been up for experimenting with their powers – he helped Riley with her mind tricks and was always coming up with new ways for Lucas to use his power – but even he was cautious with Maya.

“You know, all I want to do is be able to draw something I don’t have to destroy.” Maya ran her hands through her hair. “My power must be someone’s idea of a cosmic joke.”

“Maya…”

“Maybe you’re right.” Maya twisted around to face Riley, “Maybe we should both take the Nullifier.”

Riley choked down the desperate hope that shot through her. It was unfair to want Maya to take the Nullifier, it was a selfish desire. One based on not wanting to be alone not because it was necessarily the best thing for Maya.

“I could go to art school.” Maya said then smiled darkly, “Well, if I won the lottery and if I don’t get expelled.”

“They’re not going to expel you.” Riley repeated fiercely.

Maya sighed, “How could they not.”

00

The damage to the hallway had meant school was closed early for the day.

Principal Yancey had told Maya grimly she was to come in early the next day for a disciplinary hearing, righteous vindication radiating off him. Riley didn’t tell Maya that his thoughts were full of expulsion, she didn’t have to.

Her dad had been on the phone to Superintendent Turner since school finished but from the length of his conversation Riley guessed it wasn’t going to well.

“Mom, can you help us?” Riley asked over dinner. Maya was slumped over her plate next to her, poking at her green beans while her mind replayed dark daydreams of expulsion or a criminal record.

 “I’ll try girls. Your father is trying as well. This is…” Topanga sighed, “This is a bad one.”

“But it was an accident!” Riley repeated, frustrated. “Doesn’t that count for something?”

Topanga didn’t have a response for her.

“It’s fine, Riles. I’ll be fine.” Maya pushed her plate away. “So I get expelled, maybe they’ll let me get the Nullifier sooner.”

“Maya.” Said Topanga sharply. “Don’t joke about that.”

Anxiety coiled up around Riley’s chest and she closed her mind to the disapproval radiating from her mom.

“Sorry, Mrs Matthews,” Maya said and stood up, “I’m going to get going. I’ve got to tell my mom what happened today.”

“It will be fine Maya. We’ll sort something out.” Topanga repeated.

Maya nodded, but there was no belief in.

00

The next day Riley arrived just in time to see Maya walking into the principal’s office.  She stretched out her consciousness, but fear had locked Maya’s mind up and Riley didn’t want to push too much and risk hurting her.  She slumped down against the wall next to the principal’s office, watching shadows pace through the clouded window.

An hour after she arrived, the door swung open and Maya spilled outwards. She looked windswept, in shock, her face chalk coloured and eyes unfocused. Riley shot to her feet and grabbed at Maya’s arm to steady her.  Principal Yancey followed; from his feelings of extreme disappointment Riley could only assume things hadn’t gone the way he’d wanted. Hope fluttered delicately in her chest.

“Maya –”

“Good luck, Maya.” Another voice, one Riley vaguely recognised interrupted. She spun around to the see the gold and red costumed Polaris step out of Yancey’s office. Polaris had been the leader of Remarkables for years, he and her mother still sent each other Christmas cards. Confusion stilled Riley’s tongue.

Maya turned to Polaris, shaking his offered hand gingerly.

“I look forward to seeing you soon.” Polaris said to Maya. He sent a wink of recognition at Riley before striding out of the school.

“What did he mean? Maya, what did he mean?” Riley said urgently.

Maya’s mind picked and dropped a hundred different thoughts, unable to concentrate. “Polaris came to speak for me in the hearing. He said the Remarkables will train me to use my powers, to prevent accidents like this from happening.”

“That’s great! You’re staying here? You’re not expelled?”

“I’m staying but, Riley there’s something else.”

Before she said it, Riley knew; the memory lingered at the corners of Maya’s mind, twisting like a snake.

“The Remarkables made me an offer: I sign up to work for them for seven years and after they’ll pay for art school for me.”

“OH.” Riley said numbly, the space between them loomed like a canyon.

“Riley…”

“No. This is good. This is good right?” Riley looked at Maya, and world swimming out of focus, “You wanted to go to Art school, and now you can.”

“Yeah,” Maya said quietly. “Riley I’m really sorry, I know I said we’d get the Nullifier together.”

“It’s ok, it was a stupid plan anyway.”

“It wasn’t.” Maya’s thumb came up and caught the tear sliding down Riley’s cheek. Riley didn’t even know she’d been crying. “It wasn’t a stupid plan, I’m sorry I ruined it.”

Riley’s smile was bittersweet, “Will you be happy?”

Lucas crept around the edges of Maya’s thoughts; his head tilted and his smile crooked the way it only was when Maya was teasing him.  The raw hurt of Maya’s decision throbbed even worse

“Yeah, I think I will be.” Maya said.

“That’s all I want.”

00

“Did you do it?”

Topanga turned around, surprise curling around her thoughts as Riley slammed into their apartment.

“I said, did you do it?”

“Did I do what, honey?” her mom asked, walking towards her gingerly, hands out the way people approached feral animals.

“Did you call Polaris and ask him to give Maya that deal?” Riley shouted, her words cracking. “Did you hate the idea of her taking the Nullifier that much?”

“Riley, I didn’t call Polaris. I don’t know anything about the deal he offered Maya.” Topanga’s voice was low, soothing and it would have worked on anyone else, but Riley could feel the shock and worry radiating off her.

“Well, if you didn’t call him, who did?”

Topanga was silent, unable to give Riley an answer. It didn’t matter, Riley didn’t need her mom to tell her what had happened, she already knew. She just hadn’t wanted to. Lucas.

Riley’s knees folded and she sank down, deflated, onto the sofa. “Lucas is joining the Remarkables. Lucas knows Polaris."

Lucas was trying to help, that’s what he did. He was pretty much incapable of doing anything else. But knowing that didn’t stop the surge of utter hate for him that ran through Riley. It was his fault that Maya would be leaving her to join the Remarkables, it was his fault Maya wouldn’t be coming with Riley to take the Nullifier.

Lucas was going to take Maya away from her.

Riley burst into tears.

“Oh Riley, baby. What’s wrong?” Topanga wrapped her arms around Riley; a blanket of protectiveness and love curling around them. “Why are you upset? Isn’t this a good thing? Maya’s not getting expelled, she won’t have to take the Nullifier now?”

“It’s not a good thing.” Riley said miserably, “It’s not a good thing because Maya was going to take the Nullifier with me.”

“Oh…”

Riley’s stomach twisted and threatening to lose her lunch. Riley could feel Topanga’s shock, her instant revulsion as the idea of the nullifier. Riley wheezed, unable to breath.

“I’m sorry mom, I’m so sorry.  I don’t want you to be disappointed in me, but I hate my power. Please don’t hate me.”

Topanga’s arms tightened to bone breaking and she took a shaky breath which Riley felt rattle through her own body. “Don’t think for a minute that I could ever hate you.”

Riley looked up; there were tears in her mom’s eyes as well.

“I’m sorry for anything I did that made you think I could. I don’t care what you or decide, all I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is for you to be happy.”

Topanga forced them apar and looked into Riley’s eyes. The summer heat feel of love swam between them, as well as guilt and sadness. People couldn’t lie to Riley even when they lied to themselves. But it didn’t matter, intent was enough.

“Take the Nullifier, don’t take the Nullifier. I will always be here for you.” Topanga said.

Riley didn’t think she could cry harder. She was wrong.

00

Two weeks later the school reopened.

The best thing about having superheroes was that one ruined hallway was nothing to the cities construction crews.  The time off had been a needed break for Riley and her parents. Apparently, there was a lot more to talk about than she had initially thought. There had been a whole lot of tears from everyone – well mostly from Cory, but she had promised not to tell.

Her parents had accepted her decision but only under the compromise that she would wait until she was eighteen and that she would seek some help in controlling her power. The power therapist had suggested she try animal therapy and so Riley spent every Tuesday and Thursday evening helping out at an animal shelter.

Animal minds were different than human ones, less chaotic and softer. They didn’t overwhelm Riley in the same as people did and they didn’t care when she brushed against their thoughts, there was no sense of violated privacy from them.  In fact, Riley’s ability to predicate their needs had made her fast the most popular career at the shelter.

“You have fur on your coat again.” Maya said, picking a tuft of golden fur from Riley’s shoulder.

Riley spun around excitedly, “Where have you been! I’ve been waiting for you”

“Yeah well…”

Riley didn’t listen, instead she grabbed Maya’s wrist and pulled her down the corridor eagerly.

 “Short-legged person here!” Maya called after her breathlessly, “Slow down.”

“Well, Short legged person should have been here when I told her to be.” Riley said once they finally stopped. She pushed Maya through the open door. “Now, come on.”

“Riley…” Maya hesitated in the doorway; the art room spread out before them, smelling of paint and clay and turpentine. Sitting lazily on one of the tables was Lucas and Farkle.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here for!” Farkle demanded.

“A whole ten minutes?” Lucas answered amused.

“What are you guys doing?” Maya hissed, “I can’t be caught in here again.”

“You won’t be. The facility is about to have a very urgent meeting this morning.” Riley said with a grin.

“How?”

Riley brushed imagined lint off her shoulder nonchalantly, “I have a father in high places.”

“Anyway!” Farkle interrupted. “Here’s what we’re doing.” He pulled Maya forward, pushing her in front of a canvas.

Next to hers, another canvass and chair had been set up. Lucas sat down next to Maya, their knees brushing.

“It was Farkle’s idea.” Riley said. “Lucas can copy anything physical right? And painting is physical. He should be able to recreate anything you draw, perfectly.”

Maya clutched at her paint brush. “I don’t know…”

“Maya,” Riley said seriously, “You told me you wanted to create something you don’t have to destroy. This is it.”

Maya made to protest again, but Lucas reached out and curled his hand around Maya’s paintbrush, engulfing her smaller hand beneath his. “Try.” He said softly.

Maya pulled away, rolling her eyes.  “You guys are ridiculous.”  For all her hesitation, Maya’s paint brush was skimming against the canvas a split second later. Next to her Lucas copied the movement on his own canvass.

Despite what they’d told Maya, Farkle wasn’t entirely this would work. Painting might be a physical movement that could be copied, but he was unsure how much of Maya’s talent was driven by her power. He’d confessed worriedly that he wasn’t even sure if Lucas’s painting wouldn’t also come to life. When Riley had told this to Lucas he had shrugged and said it was worth the risk.

Half an hour later Maya put her brush down. Her mouth was a thin line of concentration as she struggled to stop her painting from crawling to life and without a word took her canvass over to the shredder.   Maya stood over the shredder, watching mournfully as her work was destroyed.

“Maya,” Lucas stepped up behind her, tugging at her hand gently. Maya allowed him led her back to their seats.  Next to her vacant easel, Lucas’s canvas was still shining with undried paint. Maya reached out automatically to touch it, stopping her fingers seconds before she did so. Ever brushstroke, smudge and shadow was identical to hers.

Maya made a little, choked noise and turned to Riley and Farkle. “Thank you. Thank you.”

Riley smiled, “Anytime, Peaches.” She tugged Farkle off the table, “We’ll see you guys in class.”

Farkle looked at her puzzled but followed her without question as they wandered out into the hall.

Inside the Art room Maya and Lucas were bright sparks of consciousness; Riley could feel them as they swayed towards each other, Lucas awkwardly fidgeting with his hands and Maya tugging at her hair. She could hear Maya trying to put her thoughts into words, a mixture of gratitude and tender fondness wobbling together confusingly.

Lucas got there first. His hand reaching up and tucked Maya’s loose curl behind her ear “I will draw with you for as long as you need, for as long as you want me.” He said.

Riley didn’t need any powers to know what happened next. 

00

“Hello, ladies- er lady?” Farkle corrected.

“Hey Farkle,” Riley said, looking over her shoulder. At some point, Farkle had become a giant and he had to fold himself like paper to squeeze through her window. Riley smiled fondly at him.

“I thought we were all meeting here? Examination prep waits for no man… or woman.”

“They’re here. Maya went to get some drinks and Lucas went to help carry them.” Riley glanced at her watch, “They’ve been gone for fifteen minutes now.”

“Why would they… oh. OH!” Farkle flushed in realisation.

“Yup,”  Riley drawled.

Lucas and Maya hadn’t actually announced they were dating, but everyone knew. They were trying to be sensitive by not kissing in front of Riley but honestly, hearing their lust-driven teenager thoughts about kissing each other was kind of worse than the real thing. Riley appreciated the effort though so hadn’t told them yet. Besides they were joining the Remarkables together, they would have plenty of time to make out, far away from where Riley could hear it.

“So,” Farkle flopped down onto his stomach next to her, clutching a pad of paper, “I’ve been thinking. You’re eighteenth birthday’s still a while away and if you wanted, I have all these ideas about what we could do with your powers.”

“If it’s mind control, we’re not doing it.”

Farkle ripped off the first page of his notepad with a disappointed sigh.

“But, I’m up for some experimenting.”

“Excellent!” Farkle said and excitedly spread out his papers across Riley’s study notes.

Lucas and Maya made it as far as the corridor next to Riley’s bedroom before getting distracted. Riley tried to keep her thoughts folded in tight, to give them some privacy but she couldn’t help but feel when Lucas pressed Maya against the wall; he leaned down to kiss Maya drawing her towards with an arm curled possessively across her waist, his fingers coiled in her hair.

Riley flushed and gave them a sharp mental nudge. She loved them and was very happy about their relationship, but there was a limit.

Maya and Lucas stumbled into her bedroom, giddy and embarrassed.

“Where the drinks?” Farkle asked.

Lucas gnawed on his swollen bottom lip, “Oh, yeah… that is what we were doing, wasn’t it”

Maya, because she had no shame, just grinned.

Farkle sighed and turned back to Riley. “So are you still planning on taking the Nullifier as soon as you turn eighteen?”

Riley hesitated. “I might wait a bit longer. I really like working at the animal shelter and my power is great there.” She shrugged, “Now that my parents are ok with me taking it, the urgency has faded a bit. But yeah, I think I will one day. I don’t need superpowers to be special.”

Farkle smiled at her knowingly.

“You know, not matter what you decide, we’ll be right here with you, right?” Maya said, wiggling down on Riley’s other side.

Lucas joined them, his broad arm sweeping across Maya and Riley, tugging them closer. Maya’s hair fluffed out into Riley’s face and she batted it away, trying not to be suffocated by. Farkle laughed and rolled closer, his body a hot line down her other side. Riley looked around her, unable to separate her feelings of love from theirs.

She smiled.

“I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Girl Meets World Fanfiction Cliche Bingo. The aim of this was to use Superhero tropes in a different way than usual.
> 
> I chose the powers based on the characters' personalities and abilities. 
> 
> Lucas is an athlete, hence his power. Riley's empathy and telepathy is because she has shown herself to be the most empathetic of the kids. Also, she seems to care a lot about what other people think of her.
> 
> Maya's power is related to her artist talent, but because she's a bit of a tragic character so is her power.  
> Originally, Farkle was going to have a power but I couldn't figure what his would be and in the end it worked better that he didn't have one.


End file.
